Paint-Your-Organs Shirt and Printable Body Book

When the skeleton activity was such a hit with my son, I knew that it was time to move on to discuss some of the organs in the human body. I created a printable book for my son to record what he learned and planned six days of exploring organs. (Thank you, library, for all the wonderful resources!)

Each day we read about an important organ in our torso: lungs, heart, liver, stomach, intestines, and kidneys and bladder (we lumped these last two into one activity).


We used the following books in our exploration of the human body:
“Breathe In, Breathe Out: Learning About Your Lungs” by Pamela Hill Nettleton
“Hear Your Heart” by Paul Showers
“Thump-Thump: Learning About Your Heart” by Pamela Hill Nettleton
“My Digestive System: An Exciting Way to Learn about your Body” by Sally Hewitt
“Human Organs” by Kristi Lew
“What’s Inside Me? My Stomach” by Dana Meachen Rau
“See inside Your Body” by Katie Daynes and Colin King


After reading up, we conducted a few other fun activities like:

• Using an empty paper towel tube to listen to each other's hearts.
• Making smoothies in a blender to simulate the stomach mushing up food.
• Pouring four cups of water into glasses to show how much urine the bladder can hold. 
• Pulling a measuring tape out to 12 feet to show the length of a child's small intestine.

Once we'd read enough to be in awe of our body's organs and their capabilities, my son recorded the important work the organ we explored is doing in his Body Book. (To make your own body book, download pages 1-3 front and pages 1-3 back, as well as assembly instructions.)

Finally, he added the organ to a tee shirt using freezer paper stencils, fabric paint, and a sponge brush. 

The human organ shapes are also available for free download. These were designed to fit on a child's size small tee shirt. Click on each of the links below to print.

lungs

liver_stomach_heart

kidneys_bladder

intestines

Just download, print, place behind a piece of freezer paper and trace the shape with an Exacto knife to cut out. Iron the paper waxy side down onto a pre-washed cotton tee shirt using medium-high heat. Place a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to prevent the paint from bleeding through. Paint, dry, and peel off the paper. Heat set each organ before painting the next one. For a tutorial on using freezer paper stencils, click here.


Help your child finish their Body Book by learning about the brain. Visit the "How to Make a Thinking Cap" post for instructions on how to make a brain hat to wear with the organs tee shirt!